Laurence and the Beast
by DarkRose2009
Summary: Laurence is Belle's reincarnation in the 21st century, when she watches the musical "Phantom of the Opera" , she becomes unconscious and wakes up again in Belle's body and era, the Dark Ages. How will this modern girl take the Beast? Your opinions about my stories are very dear to me! Told in alternate PoV's, from Laurence's to the Beast's.
1. Laurence or Belle?

Summary : Laurence is Belle's reincarnation in the 21st century. She inadvertently finds herself trapped in Belle's body. Can she get back to her time? Or is she trapped in Belle's body forever? In alternate PoVs, from Laurence's to the Beast.

Disclaimer : I don't own the fairytale and neither the Phantom of the Opera, the lyrics are Andrew Lloyd Weber's.

I Laurence Gagnon was going to watch an opera show or musical for my sweet 16th birthday. I was now choosing what to wear to the show for tonight: "_A dress, a miniskirt or something else_?" Since opera wasn't only for rich people anymore in my era, I could wear anything I want to it, not necessarily anything fancy. Even though I didn't agree with making my 16th birthday a great deal, I was being dragged into this by my family and my little cousin who was sometimes infuriating, sometimes my much needed "big brother". As I was deciding on what to wear, my mum called me down :

"Laurie, it's almost 7, we're going to eat in a restaurant too tonight, don't forget. You got half an hour."

"Yes, mum, I'm coming, just the dress and the make-up now!"

While I was going downstairs with my new skirt and top on, I heard my little cousin ask :

"So, where are we going for dinner?"

"Some Mexican cuisine restaurant called 'Mexican's House'."

"I love Mexican, mum!"

"I know, that's why your dad and I decided to go there for your 16th birthday before the musical!"

Now on route to the restaurant with my cousin, my dad and my mum, I couldn't resist asking :

"So, what's the musical's name?"

"It's a surprise for your 16th birthday, Laurie, you're going to know after dinner and when we get there."

Disappointed, I sat in silence in our car's back. I didn't talk anymore all the while to the restaurant.

"It's almost there, Laurie, Casey." Casey was my little cousin. Even if he were younger than me, he was like a big brother to me.

"Yes dad, what are you all wanting to eat?"

"Tacos, of course Laurie, what else?"

"Casey, maybe they have burritos, enchiladas, chill con carne and everything else Mexican?"

"Yes, your cousin's right, Casey. Besides tacos, they have tons of other things on their menu."

"Really?" asked my cousin, wide-eyed. "_Did he really think Mexican foods' only got tacos_? _I'll introduce him to other savoury Mexican dishes when we'll order." _

"Yes Casey. There's tons of other foods you can try there."

While I was discussing with my family about Mexican foods, I didn't notice we were already there.

"It's there, Casey, Laurie." said my dad.

Casey and I followed my parents in the restaurant. I could tell my cousin was abashed by it's decorations : orange-coloured walls, sun and moon mirrors and fake coconut trees. I gasped and said :

"Wow, dad, that seems like just the place for Mexican."

"It is, Laurie, I just googled it up and it's got 5 stars from the reviews online!"

A hostess, dressed in an orange-red uniform, said :

"Would you like on our terrace or inside?"

"On your terrace please, we came for it."

And then the hostess brought us all outside. Today was a magnificent weather because I was born in May, and I couldn't be more happier for my sweet 16 and since the restaurant was by a river, I could see fresh water while ordering and eating and chatting with my family about my future and everything. For me, a genius and female college student in pure and applied science, my future couldn't be brighter than now as I gazed on the river while my parents ate.

"Laurie, finish eating quickly, now we got to go the theaters."

"Yes mum."

And I sped up my eating speed, I was usually a slow eater, because I liked enjoying every bite of my foods, but now, I had no time to waste on that, because I was going to see a musical afterwards. When my family and I got done with our foods, our waitress came for my cake :

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you!" She sang for me. "_Wow, the cake's looking so delicious on the table, I just wanted to take a bite in it : chocolate mousse with raspberry, just how I like them."_

"Thank you so much for my birthday cake." I said to our waitress.

"My pleasure, I'll come later for the bill." After she sang "Happy Birthday" to me, my family did too, when I was ready, cutting the cake.

"Make a wish, Laurie!"

"Yeah Casey, but I'm not a little girl anymore, I know my wish won't come true."

"It'll come true, Laurie. I'm telling you : make a wish for your 16th birthday!"

"If you say so, Casey."

Even if my cousin was entreating me to make my wish, I didn't really believe in them coming true, although I did so to stop my cousin's pestering me about it, after blowing out all the candles on my cake. But I kept my wish to myself and didn't tell my cousin what I wished for, even if he pestered me about it on my way to the theatres.

After my birthday cake, it was show time and I was boiling inside with excitement. "_What's the show I'm going to see for my sweet 16_?" I couldn't stop asking myself until I sat in the theaters, waiting for the stage curtains to open. As the heavy-looking curtains opened slowly now, the show master was saying :

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please, to respect the Phantom of the Opera's dancers and singers, turn off your camera and all your other electronical devices."

As the show was about to start, I heard people shutting off their phones and putting them away in their pockets. When the musical started, I couldn't help but being enraptured by it, it's main voices for Christine, Meg, the Phantom and Raoul couldn't be better for the show. Christine made me cry when her singer sang :

"_Pitiful creature of darkness, what kind of life have you known_?"

This was my favourite lyrics from the famous modern and heart-wrenching Opera by Andrew Lloyd Weber. I thought it was so sad, so heart-breakening and I thought to myself as I watched the musical : "_Poor Phantom! Who'd be so heartless to not pity him?_" But just as the show was about to end, I felt a sudden dizziness like my head was swirling. "_What's happening to me_?" These were my last thoughts when everything before me blurred, and I was gradually going into the realm of unconsciousness for some unknown reason. In my unconsciousness, I thought I heard my mum's screams :

"Please I need to use my cell to call 9-1-1, my daughter's fainting!"

After that I knew nothing more. "_For how long have I been unconscious_?" I didn't even know myself. But when I opened my eyes again, I found myself on a simple wooden bed, with an old, white-haired man shouting in my ears :

"Belle, belle, are you all right, child?"

"_Belle?_ _What? Why was this man calling me that and child?" _

Prompted by my questions, I looked down at myself : I wasn't wearing my skirt or my top anymore, I was wearing a blue dress with a corset. "_Am I in the Dark Ages now when women wore corsets tight like this?" _ With the corset I was wearing, I couldn't even breath, but I still managed to ask the old man :

"Where am I? What happened to me? Who are you?" I shot at the man staring at me in one go.

"Belle, you suddenly told me you felt dizzy, and right after that, you fell on the floor and I brought you on the bed and this is home, and I am Maurice, your Father, don't you remember me?"

"Father? Maurice?" I asked him, unsure.

"Yes, it's me, dear. Now get some rest, you need it."

As the old man genuinely seemed to care for me, because he fussed over me for a while, asking me how I was feeling and etc. I told him I was fine, but still too dizzy to stand up, he told me to stay in bed, which I did, too weak to walk around anyway. "_Maybe he really is Belle's Father? I mean, my Father?_" Now thinking to myself about this strange situation I was in. But one thing for sure, I was in Belle's body, not my own anymore, Laurence's.

I then had a look around the little cottage I was in : it was so different from my parents' in the 21st century's townhouse. But I felt too dizzy to look carefully and to note all the details, so I tried to fall back to sleep again, yet I couldn't, I was too curious about this little place in the past. Although after a while, too tired to care about anything else, I fell into a deep sleep.

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	2. Rejecting Gaston (Laurence's PoV)

From Laurence's PoV

As I was waking up from my deep sleep, I didn't know where I was anymore. For sure, I wasn't in my room, so I panicked. "_Where am I now?_" The furnitures and everything else weren't familiar to me at all. Simply wooden tables, and my wooden and uncomfortable bed, as well as old-fashioned lamps and vases and everything were just so unfamiliar to me. I screamed and the old man came to me again, saying :

"Belle, Belle, my child, why are you screaming?"

"Where am I?"

"Don't you remember what I told you? You're home and I am your Father or your Papa, Maurice."

"Papa Maurice?"

"Yes, the fall on the ground must have been hard on your head."

That was the only logical explanation for now for this poor old man who honestly thought he was my dad and I was Belle. Well, since I was in Belle's body, I should take advantage of that fully. As Belle, I remembered I was a beautiful girl wanted by many men, rich, handsome and everything.

"Yeah, maybe Papa. And for how I long did I sleep?"

"Some days already."

"Really, that long?"

"Yes Belle, you were tired from the fall I guess."

"Thanks Papa for letting me sleep that long."

"I am your Papa, Belle, I just wish the best for you."

Then I hugged him on an impulse. He wasn't really my dad, and I missed him already, but I could feel it in his voice he really cared for me. Thank God Belle had such a kind, loving man as a father, I thought to myself or I'd be in a much more difficult situation than this.

"Do you still need to sleep?" He asked me, concerned. Seeing how truly concerned he was about my well-being, I answered honestly :

"Yes Papa, I need to rest and my head's hurting a little."

"Then rest, Belle as much as you need it." As he said this, he was getting his coat ready and everything, so I asked him :

"Where are you going, Papa?"

"Oh, to the inventors' fair. I've invented something fabulous today. I'm going to make great money and we can move out of this little cottage soon."

"But papa, I like living in a cottage, there's no need to move in a big house."

"My good Belle, always thinking about Papa. But what I invented this some days before the fair and it's going to make us rich, I promise you Belle, my kind daughter, a life of luxury!"

"I think it's a fool's dream, papa. What's your invention anyway?" I called after him as he was going to the door.

"A hot tea maker. You can just press a button, and it'll make hot tea for you!"

"Sounds wonderful, papa. So you're going to the fair for that?"

"Yes, to make us rich, now you rest, my dear."

"And where is the fair, papa?"

"Through the forest, and I'll need to take the left road and some few houses and I'm going to be there."

"Don't get lost in the forest, Papa."

"Oh, trust me, I won't, my dear Belle, don't worry about me."

I silently thought his machine was ridiculous and he'd never be successful at the fair, though I kept that to myself, to avoid some argument with my old man. Now with him gone, I had time to think about Belle's story, if I remembered everything right, my old man was going to get lost in the forest and I was to go and rescue him. But I still didn't understand why I was in Belle's body in the first place, that was still a mystery to me. "_How and why did I get into her body_?"

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't hear someone coming in my cottage. Who was it? And I saw Gaston at the door. Of course, how could I forget about him, this dude thought he was the finest thing on two legs, and had supposedly asked me to marry him for quite some time now, but he was a flirt also, and played with other girls. I despised such playboys like him, so I decided to take advantage of my seeming memory loss and asked him :

"Well, hello, who are you?"

"What! Belle, I am your Gaston! What's wrong with you?"

"My Papa says I've all of a sudden fallen on the floor while my head was dizzy and all, so I got some memory loss problem now."

"Well, let me refresh your memory with a true love's kiss, then!"

That guy really got on my nerves and he's really got some self-inflated ego. Much like the rich, arrogant playboys in my time, which was why I instantly disliked him, perhaps even more so than Belle did in her story. In my mind, I asked myself : "_how could Belle stand this insufferable guy?"_ But even though in her body, mentally, I was still Laurence Gagnon, myself, so I felt more hate for this guy than anything else. "_But how I am to reject his advances without being too out of place in this era and time_?" After a while of musing to myself, I told him :

"That won't be necessary,_ Sir_. Would you like some tea instead?"

"Yes, sure, Belle."

The guy was uncomfortable as he sat down for tea and cookies, I could see, and I really didn't like his attitude very much in my home, thinking he owned me or something. Well, nobody owned me, not even him. He was now drinking the tea I made for him as ostentatiously as possible. "_Must he really do this as a guest in someone else's home_?" Then I remembered I was in the Dark Ages, when women basically served men. I lamented to myself and thought I really wanted to go back to my century, because I was used to be being equal to a man. But obviously it wasn't going to be this soon, as I had to, as Belle, live her story. The guy pulled me out of my thoughts rudely :

"Thank you Belle, for the tea it was excellent. Now I want you to think a bit about our marriage, I am rich, good-looking and desired by many women." I'd have liked this guy much more, if he didn't brag about himself so much. So I said :

"Well, Gaston, give me some time to think about it, all right?" At this, he seemed to think about it a bit more.

"All right, Belle, I'm giving you 10 days."

"What 10 days? That's too soon. Give me a month I !" I said, delaying this as much as I could, but I felt Gaston was quite a firm guy, what he wanted, he had to get it and fast.

"Half a month then, Belle."

"No, one month, I just fell on the ground and my head needs time to recover. I'm sure you don't want a dizzy bride embarrassing you on your wedding day, Gaston." He thought about it seriously and answered me :

"Fine then, you win, a month, Belle."

"Now if you're done with you tea…" I left that hanging. I hope he wasn't going to abuse of my hospitality any longer, because I really wanted him out of my home.

"Yes, but remember, Belle, you'll be mine in a month, after your recovery." He said, sure of himself and left my home. "_Such a narcissistic guy! He obviously thinks very highly of himself, and me rejecting him just got his over self-confidence down by a notch._"

When he left, I was smiling to myself and very proud of myself, because I was able to reject the obnoxious guy when every other women in this era of time fawned over him, and threw themselves at him, if I read the fairytale Beauty and the Beast correctly. I read it so long ago, when I was little, so I was remembering the finer details with much difficulty. And that Gaston was a pushingly annoying dude in the story, serving as a love rival to the Beast, so I had to think of a way to avoid him. After some moments, I exclaimed to myself :

"_Eureka! I am going to try and find my papa Maurice and get lost in the forest too and meet my prince the Beast, so I can avoid his horrendous marriage proposals. _"

In my excitement, I forgot my good Papa didn't tell me exactly where he went, but no matter, my goal was to get lost in the forest anyway and to escape Gaston, my pompous suitor, who was so sure he'd get my hand in a month. "_Well, he can't get my hand in marriage if I were lost in the forest and all, but I still have to find Papa, it's almost nighttime now and he hasn't returned, it's starting to worry me a lot_", I mused. This sounded like a good plan to me, so as soon as he got out of my cottage, I put it into execution. I grabbed a winter coat for women and left for my kind papa.

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	3. Meeting my Prince or my Beast?

Still in Laurence's PoV

Garbed in my winter coat, I saddled Phillipe, my horse or was it Belle's? I didn't know and I didn't care anymore about it, but after I saddled him, I rode him into the woods first, and then in the forest. I preferred the calm of the woods to that Gaston's horrible advances. I really was in heaven in the woods. As I rode swiftly in the woods, I didn't pay attention to my surroundings, and I didn't see I already got to the middle of a Forest.

It seems to me that I've been in circles around the same spot in the forest for a long while. I had no compass nor anything like that, so I couldn't find my way in the forest and it was snowing heavily, so my horse left visible prints in the snow. Even if my plan were in part, to get lost in the forest and to meet my prince charming, I still had to get Papa. The man was gone long enough, and this started to worry me more and more. "Almost night now." I said to myself out loud and fearing for my dear Papa's life. "My _dear_ Papa?" Even though this man wasn't my real dad, I still thought of him as my Papa, but I didn't know myself how I came to grow attached to this man in such a short time. I thought it was because he took care of me as a daughter when I was sick, laying in bed. If not for him, I wouldn't be so comfortably laying in bed, when I was dizzy and all, so instead of complaining, I was thankful I wasn't in a worse situation than I was now . And if I didn't have such a loving papa, I'd probably be a servant in a rich man or woman's house or even worse, a bastard child in the streets. But, the fates had me in Belle's body and God only knew why. Then as I went deeper about it, and thought to myself while I was riding Phillipe : "_Maybe it's the Enchantress who did that to me? But if she did, why did she choose me?" _At that time, I couldn't know it was because I was Belle's reincarnation in the 21st century, and that was why she chose me to break the Prince's curse.

Enough wandering around in my thoughts, I needed to concentrate on finding my papa now. "_But how_?" My horse then neighed. "Phillipe, do you have any idea about where my papa could or might be?" He of course, as a horse couldn't speak, so he neighed again, in the same high-pitched horse sound. He rode me to a palace.

"Are you sure, Phillipe?" I asked my horse, a bit uncertain myself about the place. The palace before me was dark, and no lights in the palace. After a look around the place, I thought to myself : "_No lights on, there mustn't be anyone round in there._" But Phillipe went further in the palace.

"Phillipe, stop! What are you doing? We're walking straight into the selfish Prince's castle!" But he didn't listen to me and still rode further ahead. "I don't want to go there, please, Phillipe, it's the Prince's enchanted Castle!" My words though, still fell deaf in my horse's ears and he acted his own way despite my not wanting to go further.

But then, I saw hoove prints in the snow and Phillipe, quite an intelligent horse, was following the trail these prints' left. It was probably my papa's horse, and my horse recognized them. Realizing my mistake, I said to Phillipe : "What an intelligent horse you are, Phillipe! I'm sorry I've ever yelled at you. Will you ever forgive me?"

Then again Phillipe didn't seem to mind me, so he continued following these prints, and we came about a Castle. "This is the selfish Prince's castle, I don't want to go in, Phillipe." I wailed, but as much as I didn't want go in, I knew I had to, because my Papa was in there and in Belle's body, I had to meet my Prince the Beast, or was it the Beast my Prince. It wasn't all very clear to me when I opened the Castle's huge and heavy doors and went in, asking :

"Hello, is anybody here? Hello anyone home?"

As total silence greeted my questions, I wandered around the Castle for a bit, not daring to go too fast. Suddenly, while I explored the Castle slowly, I apparently heard some faint noises coming from a corridor. I followed those sounds, knowing I was about to meet Lumiere the Candlelight and Cogsworth the Clock. And indeed, I saw Lumiere and Cogsworth in a dimly-light corridor. I asked Lumiere :

"Where am I?"

"You're in my Master's Castle, young lady?"

"Belle."

"You're in the infamous Beast's Castle, Mademoiselle."

"Cogsworth, what do you mean?" I said, feigning surprise, knowing full well who these 2 meant. However, I still asked them these questions.

"The frightening Beast, I'd suggest for you to get out of this cursed Castle, as much as possible, Mademoiselle."

"I'm not afraid of any Beast or Master!" I roared, and I shouldn't have done that, because just then, some other voice asked roaringly :

"Who's there? Disturbing my peace?" Despite having read the fairytale over and over again and so many times, living it was quite another story for me. When I was reading it, I was terrified of the Beast, and in reality, he was 1 thousand times more scary than in Belle's or my tale. I didn't know who I was now anymore.

"It's me, Belle."

"And what do you want, how dare you come in my Castle? Without any invitation?" He was asking me in his frightening voice. I just stood there in horrified silence, and was unable to answer satisfactorily. After some moments of silence, he asked me again :

"What are doing in my Castle? Uninvited? To mock me right?"

"I eer… err…" I was stuttering and struggling to find my own voice.

"Answer me! Or I'll get you out of _my _Castle!" My Beast or my Prince was threatening me.

"Sire, I am here to try and find my papa, who's gone to a fair in the day and didn't come home for the night, have you perhaps seen him? And no, I didn't come to make fun of you! "

"Seen him? I don't think so, or if you're talking about an old white-haired man?"

"Yes him! So you've seen him?"

"You're to call me your Highness, or Sire."

"Yes _Sire, your Highness. _What have you done to him? Let me see him now!_"_

I demanded of the Beast. I knew I was playing with fire, but I didn't care anything more than to find my dear and perhaps already dead papa. _"What if I were too late for him?_" I was thinking as I frowned, anticipating the worst for my papa, who wasn't really my dad, but since he took care of me like his own daughter, I considered him as my dad. But the story said my Beast or my Prince just put him in a cell, and gave him no foods nor anything else.

"You have some courage, Miss Belle or is it foolishness?" My Prince in my Beast's body asked.

"No, I want to see him please!" I begged him. After I pleaded with him, he said :

"This way, young Miss Belle."

I had no other choice other than follow him and I soon found myself climbing some stairs and going down the cellars. Although I was freaking out inside, I was trying to be as calm as possible on the outside. His face was always in the dark while I walked down the stairs, he never showed me his monstrous face. Had I seen it, I'd perhaps fainted there and there, and wouldn't have the courage to follow him down the cellars, where my good Papa was locked up. Out of the blue, he stopped and told me, raising his candle :

"Go in there, and see if it's not your Father."

And indeed it was. Seeing my papa so weak, I wanted to go to him, but since his cell was locked, my Beast had to unlock it with his keys. As he did so, I rushed in my papa Maurice's cellar :

"Oh Papa! I finally found you!" He was telling me in coarse whispers :

"Belle, go now, don't let the Beast lock you too, like he did to me!"

"No Papa, you go."

"Nobody's going anywhere. This cell will be your place to stay."

"No please your Highness! Let me take his place, let him go!"

At this, my Beast or was it my Prince wavered and asked me :

"Really? You'd stay in his place?"

"Yes! Let my Papa go, please!"

"Belle, no, listen to me! You're still young, don't sacrifice yourself for me." My Papa Maurice was telling me, but I refused to listen to him and told the Beast :

"I'll be taking his place in the cell, lock me in and let him out, please, Sire."

"No, I'm old and lived my life, please let my Belle go!" My Papa was now screaming at the top of his lungs, but my Beast the prince said :

"Your daughter has decided, now I'm letting you out, go." Then I whistled, calling my Papa's horse, and he rode safely back home in our cottage.

"You must promise me to stay here forever, My Lady Belle." Having never been called "My Lady" before, this was a novelty to me.

"My Lady?"

"Yes, you are this Castle's Lady now, if you need anything, ask my servants."

Although I shouldn't be confused because I've read the fairy tale so many times that I memorized every line of it by heart, however I was still surprised by his tone of voice. "_How terrifying he had been when I asked him about Maurice!_" But now, he was almost polite to me.

"Why? I thought I was your prisoner!" Forgetting to call him "Sire" or "Your Highness" again. However, this time he didn't correct me, instead he told me :

"You can go back to your cellar if you want, I'm not stopping you. Or you can have a comfortable room in the Castle for yourself, your choice."

"Fine, your Highness or Sire?" I asked hesitantly, not knowing which he preferred.

"Since you are my Castle's Lady now, Belle, you should me call me 'Master.' And you can go anywhere you wish in the Castle, except for the West Wing!"

But in defiant spirits and besides, I was a girl from the 21st century, so not used to these titles, I called him:

"M'sieur, what's in the West Wing?"

"M'Sieur and there's nothing special there?"

"Yes M'Sieur, that's what I called every man that back in my small village. If there really were nothing in the West Wing, then why can't go there?"

"Because I said so. Now go prepare yourself in your room while my cooks are making your dinner."

I could see I was beginning to irritate him and really to try to refrain myself from calling him "dude", since I didn't know how he'd react to that.

"I'm expecting your for dinner at 7 sharp, Belle."

I neither agreed or disagreed to it, but interiorly, I was concluding this to myself : "_The Prince is way worse than that Gaston! Are all men in the Dark Ages that way? How did Belle manage to fall in love with him? And how did he fall for Belle? Hum, I meant me in Belle's body!_" This was all so confusing to me as I undressed myself to take some rest. A bit later, Cogsworth came in and told me I had an hour before dinner, a dinner I wasn't going to because of that Prince's prideful attitude towards me. "_He dared to demand me to dinner and not ask me out to dinner!" _After some musing, I calmed down a bit and told myself out loud when all the servants left me alone : "Don't forget, you're in the Middle-Ages when men dominated women and to top it all, he's a real prince. In a Beast's form." I argued with myself during this one hour.

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	4. Seeing her through my Mirror

In the Beast's PoV

The village girl Belle had some courage to defy me this way, I wasn't used to being questioned, as the Master of my Castle. But then again, she was a country girl, not knowing nor respecting the rigid rules of a palace. She was probably the kind of free-spirited and free-thinking town girl, not raised in a noble family like me. If truth to be told, I despised Princesses, Duchesses and those Ladies-in-waiting, in one word : those noble ladies. She was different from all of them, since she didn't even mock me. But I reminded myself : _"She hasn't seen my full-face yet, she has only seen my beastly body_. _My disfigured and scarred face with horns will disgust her or even repulse her._" I didn't want her to see my full-face, but it was unavoidable, now that I've invited her to dinner with me. Speaking of which, why wasn't she down to dinner by now? It was almost 7 and I told her to be on time. "_And what's taking her so long anyway?_"

While I was asking myself these questions and waiting for her, impatience started to boil in me first, and then it quickly became anger. I knew I had a very bad temper, but I just couldn't control it and especially ever since the accursed enchantress came in my home and cursed my body. Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick… Cogsworth was slowing ticking and it was 7 o'clock sharp and she wasn't there yet. "_What's she doing? Why is she taking so long? I want to see her now and have a romantic dinner with her_. _Yet as an animal I didn't have any manners anymore, even though I told her to call me 'Your Highness', I didn't see myself as a Prince anymore. Then why did I care so much when she didn't call me 'your highness'?" _Because she was defying your authority in your palace, that was why, came the answer from a voice above me. I didn't know who this was and thought it could be the enchantress playing mind tricks on me again.

"Who is it?" I asked, startled by the voice coming from outside of me.

"Your Highness, there's no one else than myself, Cogsworth, Mrs. Pott and Babette." Lumiere answered me.

I liked Lumiere because he was frank and loyal and always cheerful, regardless of being transformed into a candlelight by the enchantress. Cosgworth was my valet, and Babette my personal maid, all very loyal to me, and they had to suffer the curse because of my own selfishness. But it wasn't my fault that I was selfish, because my parents the King and the Queen, spoilt me rotten as a kid. I didn't know why they were always so indulgent towards me then, I was too young to understand my true background and why the whole court mocked me from behind and when they talked about me, called me a "bastard".

And indeed, I was the King's bastard kid, and the Queen being kind-hearted and everything, didn't hold it against her husband my Father, for being unfaithful to her, since she, got many lovers as well. It was very common and still very much so, for wealthy women and men in position of power to have lovers and illegitimate sons and daughters. I was lucky because my father's wife treated me like her own child, despite me not being her blooded son.

Much much later, on my adoptive mother's deathbed, she told me why when I insisted and forced the secret out of her. She told me Babette was her illegitimate daughter too and she made a deal with my father to hire her as a maid in the palace, not too far from her. Then I understood why I was able to live as a prince, because my own father threatened to reveal my adoptive mother's adultery and to burn her at the stake. It wasn't anything surprising to me, since I knew my father's temper : the same as mine. When she was almost dying, I asked her who was my real mother and she said she didn't know, only my father the King knew. Before knowing all that, I had so much respect for the man and looked up to him much and dreamt and aspired and hoped to be like him, but I was never going to be like him, a glorious and respected king, because of my birth's low background. And I grew into a brat anyway, so I was a very difficult child and my temper was unchangeable now. In my childhood, I often terrorized my servants, either male or female. Only Mrs. Pott, who was my real mother's mid-wife was able to appease me at times like these when I threw tamper tantrums. After my adoptive mother died, I asked Mrs. Potts who my real mother was and she told me it was one of the Queen's Lady-in-waiting.

But I wasn't telling you all this so you can pity me, no, it's for you to better understand me and why I got to be the way I was now. And why I was getting impatient because she wasn't there to dinner with me. The she being Belle, she was the only person in my whole Kingdom who perhaps didn't look down on me, and neither was she scarred of me. So I was anxious to see her again. Although as Cogsworth was ticking, ticking, ticking and ticking, she didn't show up yet. My impatience, no my frustration at not seeing her was getting into me. I knew I should calm down and breath, breath, breath, breath. But I just couldn't control myself much when I was getting angry at someone or something. As I grew up, I learnt about myself that I could be angry at someone, either myself or someone else, or at something, some unlucky things in my life and etc. Now though, I was getting frustrated at a certain someone, and that certain someone not coming to dinner with me. I couldn't help but ask my servants who were all there around me :

"Why isn't she coming down?"

"Your Highness, she's a girl, she needs to pamper and make herself up before dinner." That was Babette.

"But it shouldn't take so long, almost 1 hour more than I gave her, why?"

"Give her some time still, Master. She's perhaps crying for her father, might even be resentful towards you because you made her lose her papa today." Cogsworth my valet explained.

"But I want to see her now and talk to her now, not later and I freed her father already, so why?" I roared, scarring all my servants, well all except good old Mrs. Potts, who said to calm me down :

"Tone it down, Sire, you might scare the girl. You know she could be the one to break the spell and all. And how are you to win the girls' heart, if you're so rough like a beast!"

"Since I'm not a man but a beast now, I shall live like one!"

"No manners, and no charms…" Began Lumiere.

"You know, girls aren't attracted to these things now. Girls love handsome, good-looking men and want rich men as well. Although I am rich, I am nowhere near handsome or good-looking."

I only said that because all the girls I've met at my court were like this and Belle, she was the only one who wasn't, and wasn't terrified of me. Well, I could tell she was slightly scared of me, but didn't scream when she saw me and neither did she run away from me, and that was why my heart was set on her upon my first meeting with her. Although I didn't know what she thought about me. It mustn't be very positive anyway, since I locked her father in a prison cell and asked to stay forever her in exchange of his freedom.

"Oh, don't demean yourself like this, sweetheart." I only let Mrs. Potts call me this when I was in need of comfort.

"Then why isn't she in the dinning room with me now?"

"Why don't I go and ask her about it, sweetie."

"And I'll be going to the West Wing to get my magical Mirror, Mrs. Pott. I'm sure she doesn't want to see me right now, not after I locked her up in a cellar." I said dejectedly.

"Wait for my good news, Sire." Mrs. Pott said as she went to her room.

While my surrogate mother went to ask about her, I went to the West Wing to get my magical Mirror, given to me by the enchantress, with which I could see anything or anyone I wished. Right now I wanted to see her so much again after my first meeting with her. So after I got quickly my Mirror, I went back again to the dinning room to wait for her. In the dinning room, I asked my Mirror :

"Show me the girl, please."

At my asking, the Mirror did so at once :

_The girl was in her room, in tears when Mrs. Pott my old maid went in and asked :_

"_May I come in, Belle?"_

"_Who is this? I don't want to see anyone now, I want to be alone."_

"_It's Mrs. Potts, the teapot."_

"_Who?"_

"_The teapot you saw at the Castle's entrance, Mademoiselle."_

"_I don't remember seeing you, just remember Lumiere and Cogsworth?"_

"_I was in the background, Miss Belle."_

"_Oh call me, Belle, please, Mrs. Potts."_

"_Very well, Belle it is. Can you stop crying for a second and listen to me?"_

"_About what?"_

"_Not a what, a who, my Master."_

"_I don't want to see him at all, Mrs. Pott."_

"_You know what, despite him being hot-tempered, he really is a good man deep down." My faithful Mrs. Pott tried a different approach. _

"_Well, I certainly haven't seen his better side yet." The girl retorted hotly._

"_Nevermind that Belle, you must be very hungry by now, why don't you come to dinner?" My servant entreated her again. _

"_No, I'm not hungry! I'm not eating tonight!" Belle's voice was raising up several octaves._

"_Not so loud, please! Master might hear you."_

"_I don't care, I hope I never see him ever again. I'll lock myself up in my room forever."_

As Mrs. Pott was coming to see me again, I despaired, so the girl didn't want to see me ever again, just like I guessed. "Well, I'll make her wish come true, she won't have dinner this evening and nobody is to give her anything to drink or eat either. She'll starve tonight for her insolence."

"But your Highness—"

"No Lumiere, you heard what I said, no foods nor drinks for her, or else everyone's going to pay." At that, no one dared to object against my decision again.

The whole night I was thoroughly humiliated by her refusal to dine with me. "_Why I am like this, so crushed_? _I've been rejected before by girls at my court, then why do I care so much about hers?" _

"_Because you care for her while you didn't for all the others." _ That same voice from above again answered me.

After I got my magical Mirror back to the West Wing, where my Rose was too, I felt terribly and so horribly guilty about it : I sent the girl who could break my spell to bed starving. I also was torturing myself in my bed for the night : "_Is she hungry_? _Or is she too angry at me to be hungry_? _Well, I won't eat anything either until she wants to see me again." _I told myself this to assuage my conscience. "_My conscience? Since when I did have one as a Beast? Oh yes, since she walked into my life so unexpectedly._" And then it was darkness for me.

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	5. Throwing me out of his Castle

Note : Laurence as the narrator again, so I=Laurence

I've heard my Beast or my Prince's roar even from my locked room. It was a deafening sound, that no human could ever make, there definitely was something beastly about him, even though I saw him as a man, and not a Beast. But he was in reality a Beast, not a man, I reminded myself sadly when I heard his animalistic voice :

"If she won't have dinner with me, she won't have anything to eat at all for tonight!"

I thought to myself locked in my own room, after I dried my tears : "_No dinner? Fine. I won't be eating anything from him anyway, since he didn't invite me nicely to dinner._" But maybe this was asking too much for him to ask me kindly to dinner, since he was a beast, and moreover a Prince who believed he owned everything in this world. "_He's the Heir to France's throne, after all." _It was understandable he was this way. But still, I couldn't help but to compare him to the humble, good and honest guys in my century. I still said to myself : "_Though there are some assholes who don't treat women right, who rape and etc. And don't forget, women playing men too, then breaking their hearts."_ And I concluded my era wasn't perfect either. "_Maybe there's no such thing as a perfect era in this world. Some progress, some improvement, but nothing was perfect and perfection is a kind of idealistic utopia." _ For example, my wish for equality of genders still didn't come true in my own era, some men took advantage of women, but women did that to men too, and women could be abusive to men as well. And both genders can be cheaters, not only women or men.

I was musing about this as I had nothing to do, since I didn't have any dinner this evening. That was okay for me since I told myself I wasn't hungry, but in truth, I was really starving. As Cogsworth didn't come again in my room and there was no clock on my white wall, I couldn't know what time it was now. I had been thinking about these things for maybe some hours or two, or 3-4 hours? I didn't know exactly anymore, but my tummy was getting hungry, even though I refused to admit it. I still of course, obstinately refused to go down to dinner with the Master of this House, the Beast. If I did so, it'd mean me admitting defeat, and that wasn't something I was ready to do yet. As a girl, I could be excessively stubborn, and I wasn't about to lose to him, my Beast, even if he punished me without dinner and even though my hunger-thirst were starting to get into me. And as a foodie, I couldn't resist not eating foods nor drinking for too long, though this was for my honour's sake, even if I really wanted to go down and have dinner, I resisted, resisted and resisted until I've heard some faint noises coming from the corridors. It was Mrs. Potts, Lumiere and Cogsworth's voices. They were all arguing with each other and I could hear them :

"But Mrs. Pott, we aren't to give her anything to eat or drink or we're all going to pay for it. And I don't know what kind of punishment the Master is to give us if we did give her anything to eat or drink!" "_So Cogsworth is a coward, forever his Master's faithful dog."_ I thought to myself after hearing his argument against Mrs. Potts'.

"But the _poor dear_ hasn't eaten anything at all tonight. She _must_ be really hungry." argued Mrs. Potts in my favour.

"Yeas, Mrs. Potts is right, really. We should give her something to drink at least, she must be so so thirsty, I'll go get some fresh water in the gardens' fountain, the Master _won't _know!"

"Lumiere, are you crazy? The Master will know, he always has ways to know anything you do in his Castle. We are only his servants, remember that, Lumiere."

I began to dislike this Cogsworth more and more as he was fighting with Lumiere and Mrs. Potts at the same time. "_What a loyal dog he is, not an ounce of sympathy for anyone else but himself, selfish and only caring about himself_." I thought again to myself, but then again I knew I misunderstood him, he just didn't want the whole Castle to be punished because of me, which was honourable.

But angry because he didn't want to give me anything to eat, I misjudged him then. He was just trying to protect his friends. No, he was being selfish and uncaring, I protested in my teenage mind of 16. I was only a teen then, not even an adult. But I didn't know I'd be staying for years in my Beast's castle then.

Aside from misjudging Cogsworth as a faithful dog, I thought about my real family in the 21st century. "_Oh dad and mum, Casey how I miss you!_" I said that only to myself, afraid they might hear me. On a whole, I was an extroverted person, but I didn't like it when others heard my innermost thoughts, especially not my weaknesses : such as my love for my parents and family. I've already had some bad experiences with my best friend who betrayed me in my high school years and that was how I learnt to keep some things secret. Before my friend's betrayal, I was an extremely extroverted person : I said what I thought basically. I still did that now, but I learnt to say my thoughts to myself and not to others, because they might use them against me and I was scared to repeat that same experience with my ex-best-friend. What he did to me was unforgivable : I was slightly physically attracted to him then, and he posted on his Facebook about how I fawned over him and gave him blow jobs at night and etc, almost getting me expelled from school. I had to go to a gynaecologist, and she took pictures of my private parts and sent them to my school director. Luckily for me, I was a virgin then and my innocence was easily proven and my director, after getting my gynaecologist' pictures, told me I could stay in school and she expelled my ex-friend for spreading false rumours about someone online. It was then too, that I learnt also to not trust guys or any other person for that matter so easily.

Why did I tell you all this, you might wonder? To explain why I over-reacted to my Beast' not inviting me to dinner, but ordering me to dinner. Firstly because I didn't take kindly to orders from anyone, not even my parents. That was why Dad and I sometimes had little frictions and verbal fights. And secondly, I didn't trust guys that easily now anymore. "_What if he wanted to poison me or something like that? And what if he wanted to take advantage of me after I got drugged?_" Yes I knew I was wild-guessing, and a bit far-fetched, but I really didn't trust him at all : he was a guy and moreover was a total stranger to me. I've read about girls and guys eating, drinking total strangers' foods and drinks, and getting drugged and getting raped by said strangers. I didn't want that to happen to me, so that was my other reason for refusing his dinner table. Maybe he didn't want to drug me, but better be safe than sorry, that was the proverb, wasn't it? While I was musing about all this, and explaining to myself why I declined my beast's dinner offer, Mrs. Potts and Lumiere, and even Cogsworth knocked on my door :

"Knock, knock, may we come in or are you asleep, Mademoiselle?"

"Whoever you are, leave me alone please. I still don't want to see anyone."

"I'm not here to make you go to the dinner, but I'm here to offer you to dine with us!" It was Mrs. Potts' warm voice.

"Mrs. Potts, go away."

"Dear, why are you so stubborn? I've made some hot tea for you already and some cookies."

I still wanted to decline, but my stomach and mouth couldn't say no to hot tea and biscuits, so I said to her :

"All right, you taste it first, since I think it might be poisoned."

"Dear, I haven't poisoned it."

"If you're telling the truth, then show me by tasting it." At my insistence, Mrs. Potts offered Lumiere some. Lumiere bit in the tea cookie, and he wasn't dying from it. Finally, my hunger and my thirst got the better of me. I wolfed Mrs. Potts' freshly and homemade tea cookies down without touching my tea yet.

"Dear, not too fast, have some tea too."

"Yes, thank you Mrs. Pott. I was getting ever so hungry and so thirsty."

"Leave some room for the main course, dear."

"Main course? I thought I wasn't to eat or drink anything for the night?"

"Babette and I asked the kitchen to make you some dinner and more tea, Belle."

"I can't wait for the main course, I could probably eat anything right now!" I exclaimed as obviously her tea and cookies weren't enough for me.

"Well, it's going to be good, Babette is in the kitchen overseeing your dinner." I noted her language was much more refined than my vulgar 21st century language, so I thought I should learn some words from them and try to sound not too out of the place in this bizarre era and time. People, especially people in Castles, spoke more elegantly than me. But as Belle, I was merely a village girl, so that was why maybe they forgave me for being so vulgar, though I mustn't use any vocabulary from my century and time or they'll start to get suspicious about me. I also must forget about technological words such as iphones, ipads, kindles, e-books, emails, not even movies or TV shows and etc because technology and science didn't exist in this dark and primitive era. And I musn't think of them as primitives, because people from the future might look down on us, people from the 21st century. As I was pondering about the things I should mind in this era and time, Mrs. Pott said :

"Look, there's Babette coming with your supper, Belle."

"Oh, where should I eat? There's no table anywhere in my room."

"Why, on your bedside table dear, it's big enough for all the dishes."

But what I ate wasn't a supper, it was a feast, a lavish banquet for high-classed people such as my Prince in Belle's story. The food was more than enough for 5 people and I was served 5 times from my 2 entrees, to my main course, to more tea and my dessert.

"Whew Mrs. Potts, wild pheasant and duck's tongue and a deer's leg and where are my vegetables?"

"Vegetables?" asked a dumbfounded Babette.

"Well, back in my village, I always had vegetables with my meats." I answered smartly making up something.

"Oh, I forgot you aren't a Princess or a Duchess, or a Countess or a Marquise, you're a simple country girl, you're not used to having these expensive meats, well, there's going to be fruits for your dessert, Miss Belle." I found it annoying that Babette always called me "Miss Belle", but I let that pass.

"Thank you, Babette. It was such a heavy dinner, I'm full up to here now, I don't think I can have anymore dessert."

"But Miss Belle, you must try it, it's our famous French fruit pudding, it's lighter than the meats, I can assure you and the kitchen made it just for you because you said you were hungry."

"If you say so, Babette, now let me take a bite in it."

"There's your dessert spoon, Miss Belle." Not used to being served, I took my spoon by myself and started on my fruit pudding. Oh boy, it wasn't like any pudding I've ever tasted in my own century with all the fat and artificial flavours. It was a naturally flavoured fruit pudding, and definitely light, just as Babette told me. She didn't lie about it's delicious and sweet lightness.

"How could I thank you for this exquisite dinner?"

"Please Belle, try to give our Master a chance tomorrow."

"I'll think about that, Mrs. Potts."

After that sumptuous and oh-so-heavy dinner, no expensive banquet I was treated to, I couldn't really sleep even as now in my luxurious-looking and spacious four-poster bed, so I decided to explore the Castle at night for fun. "_Bad idea, Laurence, you know what's going to happen to you after you get to the West Wing and after tonight's dinner : the Beast's going to throw you out of his Castle._" But as if inevitably pulled towards the West Wing by some other attraction and curiosity because the aisle was forbidden to me, so I ventured into it, knowing what my Beast was going to do to me.

However, it was too late for me, since I was already in the West Wing, looking at his portraits drawn when he was a man and finding his enchanted Rose. To me, his Rose was alluring and as if enticing me to touch it. As if under a spell, I opened the Rose's glass. About to touch the enchanted flower, my Beast appeared out out of nowhere and bellowed as a wounded animal :

"Get out, get out now!"

"But Sire, it's freezing outside!"

"I don't care, you've not only disobeyed me by dinning with my servants, but also you've found out about my enchanted Rose!"

"I'm sorry, your Highness!"

"Get out, I said, get out now!"

"Right then, I'm getting out, no need to get furious, only don't punish your servants, please, your Highness, they were only trying to be good to me."

"I'll do what I wish in _my_ Castle!" He bellowed once again, frightening me now.

Not looking back, I run towards the cursed Castle's doors and whistled for Phillipe, my horse, not even hearing Lumiere's and Mrs. Potts and even Cogsworth's far-off pleas. Now in the wild forest, I rode my horse as far way from that mean and evil Beast's as possible. "_Or is it a Prince in a Beast's form?_" I asked myself while riding my smart Phillipe.

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	6. Rescuing her from the Wolves's Clutches

In the Beast's PoV again

Instantly, when I told her to get out of my Castle, I felt my heart wrench. I instantly regretted it too. I shouldn't have sent her out in the cold and unforgiving forest like that. She was garbed in light clothes only, and saddled a horse she called Phillipe. I thought to myself sadly : "_since when did I become so cruel?_"

But I was a stubborn man or Beast. She disobeyed me and deserved to be punished. But she was going to be the girl who'd break my spell by the evil enchantress. I said to myself in my head. And I sent her away in the freezing cold in the forest! Such an evil and uncompassionate man I was! When I was thinking about myself, I always thought of myself as a man, even though I was a Beast now.

Then, I felt a slight pang of guilt in my heart, I shouldn't have sent her away in such a cold forest with animals and the like. "_You deserve to live with them, not amongst humans_!" I said to myself. Yes I do deserve to live with them, not in a Castle. Well, the Castle my parents left me when they passed away. My parents passed away when I was very young : at 10, my mum passed from tuberculosis, and my father passed on a few weeks later. I was tended and waited on by the kind Mrs. Potts, my surrogate mother, the only one whom I confided in, the only servant whom I trusted. "_Well, you should tell Mrs. Potts about your worries for the girl Belle._"

"Ahh, Mrs. Potts, I was looking for you."

"What for, your Highness?"

"Belle."

"You're worried about her deep down, aren't you?"

Even as an "evil" Beast, she saw me right through my pretences. And I couldn't more grateful to her for that. Because it would have been so awkward for me to ask her about Belle, since I threw her out in my uncontrollable temper.

"Yes I am."

"Ask your mirror to show her to you, Sire."

And I did as she told me. Mrs. Potts was an intelligent woman, one of the level-headed and oldest servant of the Castle. I went to the West Wing to grab my mirror, and asked it :

"Mirror, Mirror, show me the girl!"

"Which girl?" asked the mirror playfully. But I wasn't in the mood to play.

"Belle of course! Who else!"

And it showed me Belle. She was struggling with her horse Phillipe. Her horse didn't hear her commands and she almost fell off from it. It wrenched my heart to see her like this. Previously, she was so proud and stubborn, but now she was in need of help. But hard-headed as I was, I wasn't going to save her yet. I had to let taste the bitterness of the cold and the harshness of the forest and all a little bit more. I could be so heartless sometimes. But I couldn't watch her anymore as she fought the strong wind and her hood flew up in the air. "_She must be so cold right now_", I thought to myself. "_And I threw her away! I threw away my only hope to salvation, to become human again!_"

Mrs. Potts could see me frowning of worry for her, my beastly forehead frowning and said to me :

"Why don't you go and save her, Master! She's in need of your help!"

"I _won't_ go, she disobeyed me, she deserves to die in the cold."

"But Master, she's only a frail girl, she might warm up to you if you did!"

I thought about that and that was pretty intelligent of Mrs. Potts. Presently, Lumiere just got in and saw us together, watching Belle through my mirror.

"Sire, you're just going to watch her, she could break your spell you know!"

"That's what I told him, but he wouldn't budge Lumiere!"

As they were talking this way about me, I saw Belle being attacked by a pack of wild wolves from behind. I was a Beast yes, but a civilized Beast. Those weren't domesticated animals. I worried for her safety and regretted more deeply about sending her along in the forest. So it was then that I decided to go and get her and her horse back in my Castle. And maybe, just maybe, she would feel gratefulness to me afterwards, well, at least I hoped so!

"Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, I'll go and save her from the wolves." Without another word, I pushed the Castle's heavy doors open, and went outside. I wasn't so cold because I had fur on my body and it was protecting me from the harshness of the cold.

I wandered around the forest for a while before I could find Phillipe's hove prints. I followed them and found Belle struggling to get the wolves off her back. With my beastly hand, I yanked one off her back and one was biting her scarf, I yanked it off from her too with my hand's brute force. And I bit in one's flesh while it was trying to bite her horse's leg. It left in a hurry.

I hoped she'd thank me later on for this because I got hurt too in this. I got bitten by the wolves and stuff. After my fight with the wolves and rescuing her from them, I fell unconscious from my wounds. It stopped hurting me at the very least.

When I was awake again, I was in my Castle, with Belle tending to my wounds. "_Thank God Belle's back, she's worried me a great deal!" _As I expected, she said to me :

"Thank you, thank you for rescuing me from the wild wolves."

"No problem, but had you not run away…" I left that hanging.

"Had you not thrown me out of your Castle…." She left that hanging.

This girl was not courageous, not afraid of me, and also dared to talk back to me! I played her game a while but I was in disbelief! No one had ever talked to me in this fashion ever! I was going to teach her a lesson in manners! "_Calm down, no you won't, you went to rescue her because you cared about her, you won't scare her away again for your own sake._" A voice in my head said to me.

"If you hadn't gone to the West Wing, and if you hadn't been so curious… all this wouldn't have happened."

"Yeah, it was partly my fault, I apologize to you, your Highness, for making you save me."

She was apologizing to me now? That girl was hard to figure out! I just said to her :

"No need, we both have wounds, let's just rest until tomorrow and start afresh. I saved you from the wild forest and I locked you in cellar first, you tended to my wounds, so thank you for this."

"No worries, it was my pleasure. Are you better now?"

"Yes Belle. So I just want to know, tomorrow, will you have dinner with me?"

"I'll think about it." Was her playful answer.

"_I'll think about it! Why couldn't she be sure about it?_" I thought, very disappointed about her answer, but I'll see tomorrow I guess. But as a very impatient man, I couldn't wait till tomorrow. I was going to have dinner with my girl : Belle!

Thanks for reading!


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